Pentagon officials on Monday said that the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt has been moved to the coast of Yemen in the event that it needs to intercept shipments of Iranian arms to Houthi rebels in the chaos-filled country.
The carrier had been in the Persian Gulf, a Pentagon spokesman said, and two U.S. defense officials told USA Today that the Roosevelt also was tracking a convoy of Iranian ships on their way to the Gulf of Aden. Now that the Roosevelt is in place, the U.S. has nine warships in Yemen, a Navy official said, with the Roosevelt "significantly" adding to the amount of firepower.